The PlayStation 4 is equipped with a number of amazing features for gamers. There was a huge section of gaming enthusiasts in the world who had been waiting for the PlayStation 4 at the time of its release, 3 years earlier. It emerged with its all new technology and equipment to make gaming fun. Some of the most interesting features in PC gaming was introduced by PlayStation 4. Many gamers have been waiting to use an external hard drive with PlayStation 4

The PlayStation 4

PlayStation 4 emerged as one of the most interesting gaming platforms. It was released in late 2013, around 3 years ago. The PlayStation 4 a single-chip custom processor based gaming device with a powerful processor and a great graphic capability. It is also equipped with Ethernet and Bluetooth technology for smooth connectivity.

The PlayStation 4 came into existence with all the great features for an exceptional gaming experience. It initially has a memory capability of 500GB to 1 TB. This much memory space is quite less for a hardcore gamer, but most of the times, users find it convenient. They can play many games and save and install games in the 500GB or 1 TB provided in the PlayStation 4.

Users found it hard to use many games in PlayStation 4 with such a less memory space. There are a number of games that take up a large amount of memory space. To avoid the problem of a filled up memory that ultimately affects the performance of the PS4.

External Hard Drive in PlayStation 4

The problem of a less memory space in your PlayStation 4 was addressed in the later phase after the release of the device. Users had been waiting for something that could allow them to connect and use external hard drives with their PlayStation 4.

Earlier this year, the problem is solved with the introduction of system software 4.50. This program was released to give access to external storage units to get connected to PlayStation 4. You can now connect your external hard disk to PlayStation and sue it as a secondary storage unit for your gaming.

External Hard Drive

Any external hard drive can be used for making a secondary memory unit for your PlayStation 4. However, there are certain constraints on connecting the hard drive to PlayStation 4. The disk needs to be clean and empty as the PlayStation formats the hard drive before making it an additional storage unit.

Some of the most important aspects include the nature of USB port available in the hard drive and the storage capacity of the device. In order to make use of the hard drive for PlayStation 4, you should first check the two parameters and then proceed with the steps.

The external hard disk should have a minimum of 250GB or a maximum of 8 TB of storage space. Some of the most important things to take care of are the memory capacity. The memory capacity of your hard drive should be adequate as per your gaming requirements, but not too less or too much more than 8TB. Also, make sure the hard drive has a 3.0 USB port to connect to the PlayStation 4. You can connect a 3.0 port to the device and use the hard drive on your PlayStation 4.

About the nature of hard drive, you can use any kind of it. You can use Solid State Drives and the conventional Hard Disk Drives. A hybrid of SSD and HDD can also be used for the same purpose. As far as the memory limit has not exceeded, you can use a hybrid storage unit

Guide to Use External Hard Drive in PS4

Using your external hard drive in PlayStation 4 is very easy and convenient. Once you have all the required equipment, you can connect and use it. However, just keep in mind the hard drive goes through formatting before being used as an external storage for PS4.

Here is how you can use an external hard drive with your PlayStation 4. Make use of any hard drive that you can connect to it externally. Make sure the external drive is equipped with a USB 3.0 connecting port and has less than 8TB and more than 250GB of memory space.

Once you gather all the requisite items, plug the hard drive into the USB port of your PlayStation 4. You will know if the hard disk is connected and getting power from the PlayStation with the blink of the power light. Here are few steps to make the external hard drive functional as a secondary memory storage for PlayStation 4.

Connect the Hard Drive to PS4 via USB 3.0 port.

Check the hard drive is getting power from the power light.

Go to the settings of PS4

Go to device > USB storage device

Select the external storage device and format

Once the formatting is completed, you will be able to use the external device with your PS4. You can make use of the external hard drive as an external unit for your PlayStation 4. Also, you will be able to move, copy and perform various operations on the hard drive memory and internal memory of PS4.

You can use any hard drive in the market which is compatible with PlayStation 4. There are a number of good quality external drives that can be used. Devices like Western Digital, PKT, Toshiba etc. These are among the top choices for your purpose, they are tough, secure and have a great storage space. If you have data in the drive and you connect it to the PS4, the data will surely be deleted as PS4 formats all the drive in order to use it. In situations of data, deletion users ask the same question “Is there an easy method to get back my western digital hard drive data?”

Well, this question has a number of answers depending on the scenario. However, you can always make use of a hard drive externally connected your PlayStation 4. Make sure to get a backup of all the data that you have in the drive.

How to Expand PlayStation 4 Storage with External Hard Drive? was last modified: March 7th, 2017 by John Harris